(TibetanReview.net, Mar10, 2018) – India had not only directed its top officials and leaders not to attend the exile Tibetan administration’s ‘Thank you India’ event in New Delhi on Mar 31 to mark the Dalai Lama’s 60th anniversary of setting foot on its soil for exile but also in fact banned that and an interfaith prayer meet scheduled for Mar 31, it has emerged from a Reuters report Mar 7.

The report cited senior officials in India’s external affairs and home ministries as saying exile Tibetans would not be allowed to hold a rally in the capital, referring to the high-profile ‘Thank You India’ event scheduled to be held at the Thyagaraja Sports Complex on Apr 1, but could do so in the northern town of Dharamshala, where an exile administration is based.

“We don’t want Tibetans to hold big anti-China protests in New Delhi because it creates a bit of diplomatic tension between India and China,” an unnamed senior foreign ministry official was quoted as saying.

“It’s a very sensitive time for India and China ties and we want to ease tensions.”

The cancelled interfaith prayer meet on Apr 1 was expected to be attended by Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.